While the Gran Turismo Sport offers a compelling taste of the GT experience when using the original PlayStation VR, allowing users to don the headset for a limited portion of the game, the Gran Turismo 7 supports PS VR2 with no compromises. such a compromise. Cars, tracks, races, and license tests are all here (except for split-screen support) and replaying the game with a new headset and DualSense controller is nothing short of a miracle. fun—even if someone logged more than 200 hours on the track during 2022.
Here are four reasons to get excited about getting GT7 ready in PlayStation VR2.
Big surprise—looks great
Gran Turismo 7 is a compelling game, but I suppose the transition to PS VR 2 could entail some obvious (but understandable) compromises. That said, I’m happy to report that my concerns are unfounded, as the game looks great in VR transitions. Picture quality and clarity are vastly improved over the GT Sport, and I never felt like I had to weigh the pros and cons of the picture versus just playing on a “flat” TV screen. In short, the game looks great and really highlights the virtues of PS VR2.
Fall in love with your all-time favorite cars in the VR Gallery
Players can now take a look around at any of the more than 450 cars in the game using the VR Galleries, accessible from your Garage. This feels like the natural culmination of Polyphony’s incredible efforts to bring each car to life; plastic, wood panels, leather, vinyl and plastic are now viewable at leisure. Getting up close and personal with the multiple stereo systems, consoles, and dials (strangely) is one of the things I look forward to most about having a PS VR2 at home. There’s no denying the novelty of looking around the backseat of each car.
Head tracking is a game changer
While it may sound trivial in theory, being able to see your surroundings freely during a race—with an unobstructed view from the front of your vehicle—has tangible benefits, both in terms of performance and presence in the virtual world. For example, when driving into a sharp corner, you can look beyond the immediate turn to get to the rest of the track and plan your next move. This is one of those intuitive “real-life” driving behaviors that feels a bit weird to experience in-game.
A new sense of scale and speed
Another result of the “I am actually driving a Mazda 787B” feeling is a renewed sense of…claustrophobia and danger (in a good way!). Sports car racing can be quite dangerous, and those of us with no personal experience can better understand that in VR: the increased tangibles of a rudimentary and ready to be built interior. The aim of a race car, coupled with the real limitations of visibility (narrower than the windshield, rolling stock, etc.), greatly enhances the sense of speed and intensity of a race.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the PS VR2 offers a new perspective on the racetrack environment itself. For example, the mountains in Dragon Tail feel truly massive and majestic, and the desert in Willow Springs feels somewhat more like a desert—this vast expanse of Southern California is can feel vast and empty. It’s a feeling I’ve never had in a game before, and it makes ripping through the barren surroundings so liberating.
My time with the GT7 also highlights an incidental benefit of the new PS VR2 hardware that I hadn’t previously considered: since the headset no longer requires a camera to track your position in 3D, you You no longer have to worry too much about your position with your loved ones. to the TV. It’s a small change that I anticipate will make me more likely to use the headset during my day-to-day play sessions.
The free Gran Turismo 7 PS VR2 update is out on February 22nd.
